


The Tail of the Twins

by Lucifer_Jameason, MeMyselfAndWritersBlock



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Abuse, Age Difference, Auradon Prep (Disney), Child Abuse, Crafts, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Manipulation, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Gambling Addiction, Gen, Heterochromia, Isle of the Lost (Disney), Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Magic, POV Multiple, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, Poor Characters, Poor Life Choices, Potions, Protective Siblings, Public Display of Affection, Pyromania, Superiority Complex, Twins, United States of Auradon (Disney), United States of Auradon (Disney) Is Not Perfect, anger issues, codependent characters, creepy crawlies, difference in social status, dragon hall, neko, transfer students
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-23 18:08:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21324439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucifer_Jameason/pseuds/Lucifer_Jameason, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeMyselfAndWritersBlock/pseuds/MeMyselfAndWritersBlock
Summary: After Descendants two.Uma has gone away into the sea and peace has returned to Auradon, but not for long as King Ben starts to bring over more VK's, who don't make the effort to fit in.
Relationships: Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants), Ben/Original Character(s), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. The Queen of braking Hearts & The Maddening Hatter

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work made between me and my Brother.
> 
> I am dyslexic and even though I have a beta reader there will probably be some mistakes and i am sorry.
> 
> this will be taking place from several points of view i hope it isn't hard to follow
> 
> comments welcome and appreciated

~ ~ ~

Life had always been hard on the Isle, but life was about to get much worse for Ace and Harley. Being the children of The Queen of Hearts and The Mad Hatter they were a peculiar pair, Ace, standing at around five foot seven, was fairly slim with grey eyes and his mother's red hair; Harley, on the other hand, was shorter at five foot three and had too many colours in his hair to count. He also had odd eyes, one being bright blue and the other bright green. Growing up in The Mad Hatter’s hat shop wasn't the best upbringing, there were constant fights over how Ace and Harley should be raised. The Queen of Hearts wanting to have her sons be perfect princes and The Mad Hatter wanting two hat-making apprentices, but the twins stood by each other no matter what; tagging buildings or scavenging for materials, they were inseparable, until today.

Ace and Harley had been out all day, they were supposed to be going to school but they very rarely did what they were supposed to. Coming home they found the house completely silent, which never happened, someone was always screaming about something, so the boys rushed inside to see what was wrong.

The second the old wooden door creaked open The Queen of Hearts head spun to face it "Oh there you are my beautiful boy!" she all but screamed as she ran up to Ace, arms outstretched as if going in for a hug. 

_ Slap! _ “Don’t smile, it shows your imperfections,”   
_ Smack!  _ “Back straight, I have told you a thousand times,”   
_ Thwack! _ “Posture can make or break a prince!”

Ace replied instinctively “Yes mum, so sorry mum.”

“Well, come on then, give your mother a hug.” Ace complied, tentatively hugging her for less than a second. “Enough of that" she declared, before abruptly pushing him into a nearby wall and going back to whatever she was doing before they arrived. The Queen of Hearts was grabbing clothes by the fistfull and jamming them into her largest bag, next to which there were several others already packed.

"Ar-Are we going somewhere mother?" Ace asked softly, silently wishing she wouldn’t hit him again.

"Yes,  ** _WE_ ** are" if a look could kill, the Queen had just murdered Harley. Everyone knew that she’d never liked him, his odd eyes and hair made him 'imperfect' and 'unsightly',  _ “It’s unbecoming” _ she’d say.

The Queen turned back to her bag and started to bark orders "Ace, pack your things, with Maleficent gone, the evil queen has moved into her old tower and that means that her castle is begging to be snatched up! as a Queen I feel it’s my duty to take it off her hands.”

"But what about Harley?" As if on cue, The Hatter all but rolled down the stairs landing in a magnificent heap at the bottom.

Before standing up or even moving from the awkward position on the floor he started talking, voice muffled by the limbs that landed in front of his mouth, "Harley will be staying here with me, he will get to help me run the shop.”

Ace and Harley looked to one another, no words were exchanged but they both knew everything they needed to. “So we won’t be living together anymore?" Ace was holding back tears, if he cried now, that would surely earn him a beating.

"Oh honey, no no no, you won't be seeing each other anymore. I can't have my  _ prince  _ hanging around with… well with  _ that _ .” The smile on the queen's face was horrific and twisted.

Ace seemed to break at the thought, just standing there mouth opening and closing as if hoping that some form of protest would just emerge "but, but why?.”

"Well your father and I have never really gotten along and I have wanted to leave him for years, but I never had the opportunity, now I do"

Ace whispered to himself "I meant why now" too quiet for anyone to hear unless they were really trying, and Harley was.

Harley hugged Ace almost too tight and gently whispered in his ear, "I will still see you in school.”

Ace shut his eyes and breathed deeply before breaking out of the hug and running away, up the stairs and into his room, to pack his things, and definitely not to escape the situation and cry into some old shirts.

~ ~ ~

Ace had imagined life without Harley hundreds of times, you lose people all the time on the isle, but he could never anticipate how bad it really was. On the first day of living in the new Castle of Hearts, his mother had him clean all the rooms they would be using, the rest he was to clean later, Ace was also tasked with cooking, moving in their belongings, rearranging all the furniture and general upkeep of the home. after he had finished doing the ungodly list of chores, Ace was in 'Prince Training' he had to memorise everything about proper etiquette, everything from good posture to how to hold a tea cup, and any mistake no matter how small was met with punishment, be it the cane or the whip, to make him into the perfect prince. 

Ace stood in the middle of a castle hall with a pile of three books on his head in only his casual dress pants revealing his slim but toned upper body and a myriad of scars and bruises across his back. The Queen of Hearts was pacing back and forth behind him, sceptre in hand inspecting him for the most miniscule mistakes.

"What time is tea time?" she all but spat at him.

"Four PM" each word making the stack of books wobble and threaten to tip over.

"Good, and what are the three rules?"

"Always dress appropriately, never talk back and have a firm handshake or bow " Ace had answered these questions hundreds of times, going through them in his head his mind started to wander wondering how Harley was going.

"Good, and where is it you should stand?"

"Behind you"

"How far?"

"Three pac-" Ace couldn't even finish his sentence before he was struck with the cane across his back, the force of the blow knocking him to his knees sending books flying everywhere.

"Two! it is two paces behind. Now look at you! You’ve dropped the books, what kind of a prince are you?"

Ace curled in on himself, holding his hands over his head knowing that he would just have to wait this out, not shedding a single tear, too used to this pain, more worried about what his twin was feeling. The only relief he had was knowing that school was tomorrow. Under normal circumstances, Ace would never have set foot on campus, it was filthy, it smelled funny and nobody there liked him but Harley. It was the only time he would have with his brother, and the only time away from his mother.

Ace awoke at half past eight, on the dot screaming, he found it hard to get good sleep when alone. All but jumping out of bed to get dressed as he only had five minutes he put on his finest and only suit: a red long sleeve dress shirt, a black waistcoat and his black dress pants, no blazer. Next he ran to the kitchens, he had to cook breakfast, he wasn't an amazing chef but he wasn't incompetent, 'Bacon' and 'Pork' sausages with toast for his mother and a slice of toast for him. He brought the food up to his mother's door on their finest platter and waited, at nine'o'clock Ace opened the large double doors and moved swiftly into the room, placing the tray onto the bedside table before opening the curtains, light flooded the room, waking the Queen.

Startled by the sudden light the Queen did jump out of her bed before sitting down to enjoy her breakfast in bed. She looked a mess, her hair was everywhere and she had obviously slept in her makeup.

"Ace dear why are there no tomatoes with my breakfast?" it was a simple enough question but Ace froze, he was in trouble.

"B-because there aren’t any" was his reluctant reply

"Tell me, Ace, how can there be no fucking tomatoes on the whole god damn island ?"

"I-its resupply day t-tomorrow, the isle hasn't h-had any fresh food in a month, they’ve all rotted"

"Oh, yes, I suppose you're right, well you will just have to make me an even better breakfast tomorrow to make up for it"

"Y-yes mother "

"Well scurry along then, don't you have chores to do?"

"A-actually its Monday, I will be going to school"

"Well, off with you then! You’re no good standing around all day"

And with that Ace turned on his heels and walked out of the bedchamber, closing the doors, and breaking into a full-on sprint towards Dragon Hall. Grabbing their bag on the way out, unaware of anything that may have crawled inside.

~ ~ ~

Harley had hoped this day would never come, he hoped he could live with Ace and be happy for the rest of their lives, but you don't get happily ever afters on the isle. Living with The Mad Hatter was akin to living alone, most of the time he would be talking to himself or he would be so in his own head that he couldn't even tell you were there, this meant that Harley had to run the shop. That is why he was on the isle in the first place, he was deemed a danger to himself and others, and ,like everything that the 'good guys' think is broken, they left him on the isle. Unlike most, Harley was ok with his father's ramblings, as it meant he never had to talk to him. It's not that Harley doesn't like his dad, he just doesn't like to talk to anyone, anyone but Ace. 

Being virtually left alone in the hat shop, Harley began to fidget, he didn't like having nothing to do, so he decided to be productive, running around his room trying to find any materials. Harley sat at the old wooden stool in front of his bench, dropping the bundles of fabric, ribbon and whatever else he grabbed onto it. He didn't know what he was going to make, he never did, but he got to work anyway, drawing designs and cutting fabric and with every stroke of their pen and snip of the scissors, their mind wandered to Ace. As if on autopilot, Harley was making a blazer, '38" chest, 32" waist and 33" sleeve', Harley had never actually measured Ace, but he had never had to, all it took was one look at someone for him to know everything he needed. Not having any form of sewing machine made the work a lot harder and inevitably ended in lots of cuts on their hands, but Harley made quick work of anything they set their mind to, taking about an hour to finish the garment, a fine black blazer with red interior. A sharp pain radiating from his back pulled him out of his daydream and back to reality, Ace must be getting beaten. Trying to ignore the pain Harley got on with his work trying to make as many new hats as he could for the store, tall ones, short ones and even a few fat ones. After working all day Harley closed up the shop with little fuss and went off to bed, for the most part just laying there, waiting to pass out.

Harley awoke the next day to the harsh sound of his alarm clock ringing and, having only gotten to sleep a few hours prior, it took awhile for him to drag himself out of the warmth of his bed. After he had gotten up, it took no time at all for Harley to throw on his old worn out cloak and some jeans, grab their new hat and the new blazer, before setting off for Dragon Hall.

~ ~ ~

Ace had gotten to the Hall early, he just couldn't wait to get out of the castle, and when Harley arrived it took roughly ten seconds for him to find Ace and it took less time for them to run into each other's arms.

"I missed you." the two said in sync before laughing, still in their warm embrace. They stayed like that for a few minutes, just enjoying the company before Harley pushed Ace back and grabbed him by his shoulders.

"Are you ok? What happened yesterday?" Harley's eyes were darting up and down all of Ace looking for anything out of place.

"I'm fine, I forgot some crap about etiquette and dropped some books," he said brushing off Harley's hands "earned myself a right beating!" He chuckled to himself.

Before there could be any protest from Harley, the bell, indicating the start of tutorial, rang. Then all of the kids that were loitering around outside the Hall put out their fags and slowly, but surely, made their way inside.

The inside of Dragon Hall looked just as good as you would expect, most of the doors were broken or missing, wires hung from the ceiling and old papers and fliers littered the corridors. Everyone who attended the school was an oddity in some way, almost nobody on the isle actually went, instead occupying their time with much more interesting hobbies like stealing or free running. However today all eyes were on the twins, they hadn't set foot in the school since the mandatory enrolment, and they weren't exactly loved by all. Most people poked fun at Harley for not talking asking stuff like  _ “What’s wrong, Cheshire Cat got your tongue?”  _ and they had been introduced to the business end of the sceptre of hearts which, unfortunately, makes a fairly good stand-in mace. But not all the kids had problems with them, but most still didn't know them as Ace and Harley had been very close and never wanted any other friends.

Walking into the tutorial there were lots of whispers and rumours flying around the room. The teacher, Lady Tremaine, did nothing to quiet the class, she simply looking annoyed that there were more kids than usual. The twins just awkwardly stood in the doorway, waiting for any sign that this was their class.

"Well come in then!" Lady Tremaine sighed leaning on her lectern, she seemed tired. Oh well, that was the cue they were waiting for, walking in and trying to shuffle to the back of the room together.

"Wait!" She barked at the front of the class "aren't you going to introduce yourselves?"

There was a quick look between Harley and Ace that said a thousand words, Ace pivoted on the spot and put on his biggest fake smile before he walked back to the front, as Harley continued and sat down.

"If I must, my name is Ace Hatter, pleasure, and that is my twin brother Harley Hearts," Harley nods as everybody turns back to look at him, "will that be sufficient?" Ace asks the teacher in a sickly sweet voice, not even waiting for an answer, "Good!" he announces, before dropping the smile and walking to the back of the room to take his seat next to Harley.

Lady Tremaine cleared her throat, the children fell silent and everyone looked to the front, "As usual, most of the teachers have not turned up today, so just go to whatever class has someone in it, and don't forget that applications to leave the isle tomorrow are due by the end of the day; if you need a form, take it on the way out." Harley and Ace perked up at that, looking for where on the desk they were.   
"Have fun in class, freaks."

Most people took that as a hint to get out, but a few people stayed behind, including Harley and Ace. The seven or so remaining kids got up one by one, walked to the front desk and took a form before silently walking out into the halls. Ace and Harley walking straight out and then Harley dragged Ace right into the nearest bathroom with their newfound hope, some paper. When they entered the first thing Harley did was check the stalls to see if they was alone, while Ace pulled out a crudely rolled fag out of his pocket along with his lighter that looked like a deck of cards. As soon as Harley had confirmed they were alone the boys looked at each other and simply smiled.

"Do you know what this means?" Harley asked excitedly.

Mid drag, Ace took his time before blowing a large cloud of smoke towards his brother, "It means that four poor sods get to be brainwashed into being goody-two-shoes." 

Harley, fanning away the smoke with the paper, looked annoyed. "No,this is our way out! If we can get on that boat to Auradon then all of our problems are solved, we can escape from mum and dad and we will get to live together!"

"Are you saying this is something you want to do?" He says as he sits on the bathroom side.

"Yes, at the very least it's safe there, we wouldn't be living off of scraps or rotten food..."

"What's the odds we are chosen?"

Harley stopped to think, with a near perfect memory it was easy to remember who had picked up application forms, "Somewhere around one in four"

"Can you rig it?" The question was simple enough, Ace wanted to know if they could increase their odds, "Because if we do this and we aren't chosen Mother will kill me" but it was too late, Harley's mind was already coming up with plans and schemes, thousands of different ways to fix the selection.

"Yes, i think i can" Harley declared with unwavering certainty

“Yes,” Harley declared, with unwavering certainty in his voice, “I think I can.” 

"Well then," Ace hopped off of the side taking one last drag before putting the cig out on his wrist, "Where do I sign?"

~ ~ ~


	2. Chapter 2

~ ~ ~

Harley’s plan wasn't exactly easy to pull off, nor was it foolproof. Firstly both Harley and Ace woke up early at around five am, Harley had to gather the necessary materials for his part of the plan and Ace had to find some of the more elusive occupants of the Isle, then they were to meet at Goblin Wharf where the ship for resupply and departure would moor.

~ ~ ~

Harley hated getting up early; suffering from insomnia, he found it hard to get to sleep, so getting up at five in the morning was nearly impossible - in fact he slept straight through his alarm, not waking up until much later. This still meant he had only three or four hours of sleep. Still groggy, Harley didn't even get changed out of his night clothes getting straight to work, running around the shop, collecting all the materials he could find - anything he needed that he didn't have, he would have to improvise or take parts from prior projects. 

It was simple in concept, a hat that would make picking names randomly impossible, in practice though it was much harder, none of the hats in the shop was the right size for this to work so he would need to make a new base before anything else. Making the hat was time consuming but easy enough, now for the internal workings, this needed to be done quickly, he had to meet Ace soon, a simple drop mechanism would have to to, he could fit it into the inner rim of the hat and it would only take a few minutes to make. Harley hated rushing his work, he liked to think that he put a little bit of himself into anything he made and that rushing would only take away from that.

The final touches on the hat was done, when the names were mixed it should jostle the extra paper down into the hat making the odds four to one in their favour, just in time Harley threw on some clothes and packed the bag that he had made the night before, and he set off for the docks. It wasn't a long way but even travelling a short distance on the Isle was hazardous, there were people around every corner that would try to mug you for everything you’re worth. Thankfully, most people would leave Harley alone as he looked worse than most of the people in the Isle, in his tattered clothes and his patchwork coat that was starting to look a little bit too small.

~ ~ ~

Getting up early was nothing new to Ace, he normally had night terrors that woke him a couple of times a night. However, he rarely left without preparing food or waking his mother, for fear of a beating but he was on a mission today. Grabbing his pre-packed escape bag containing most of his possessions, and even everything he had taken to school, he got to work. Ace’s first task was to find the Cheshire siblings, not the most savoury crowd, but if you needed something to go missing, they were the people to ask. Ace looked high and low for the family of thieves with next to no luck, he had checked the back alleys and all the dark corners on the Isle and had still not found them, thankfully he didn't need to, the best way to find the cats was for them to find you. 

After about an hour of searching Ace was starting to get impatient, they had to know he was looking for them by now, he was running out of time and Harley was probably ready and waiting by now.

“Ave you been lookin for us” a voice mocked from somewhere behind Ace. Not liking being snuck up on, he spun around, only to see the empty street and no signs of life. There was a light tap on his shoulder that made him once again whip around, only this time to be faced with seven, nearly identical, children. That was odd, Ace could have sworn there were eight siblings in the bunch. They all had purple hair and a pair of cat ears that stick out on the top of their heads, the only difference between them was that they were mostly different heights and some had longer hair.

Ace took a moment to compose himself and take a step back not liking so many people so close to him. “By chance, yes I have! I have a job for you!” 

The crew broke into a cacophony of yowls and laughs and the tallest of the lot slipped back into Ace’s personal space. “And why would we wanna do a job for you?” 

“Because  _ you  _ would forever be known as the gang that robbed the King of Auradon” Before he could finish the thought, silence had fallen over the cats and their ears had perked up in interest.

“Kay... what's the gig?” the frontmost cat asked.

Ace dove into the plan, explaining what he wanted them to do, where they would need to be, at what times and what he wanted them to grab, 

“...And best of all you get to keep anything you grab”

“Wait, if we get to keep all the loot, then what's in it for you?” 

“All I want is to inconvenience the King for a few seconds, think you can manage that?” Ace was grinning to himself, there was no way these kleptomaniacs would refuse.

Taking a step back, the leader of the lot outstretched a hand,    
“Aye, a think we can do that.” Ace shook his hand, sealing the deal, before turning around and wiping his hand down his front, finally on his way to meet up with Harley.

~ ~ ~

When Ace arrived at Goblin Wharf, the dock was already filled with people, some waiting for King Ben, most waiting to get as much food or junk that the ship was bringing. ‘ _ Isle of the leftovers’ _ , that is the sick nickname that the crew had given to the Isle of the lost, nothing ever new there and everything second hand, they only got what the so-called  _ ‘good guys’  _ didn't want anymore. Ace frantically looked around the crowd, spotting many familiar faces from school the day before. A girl with long slick black hair who had a small dog in a handbag, she looked around the crowd as if surrounded by trash. A boy with short stuck up green hair who,even though fully clothed, could be seen with a body covered in muscles. Lastly there was one of the Cheshire children, not one Ace had seen earlier though, this one was shorter, they looked frail or even sick, and they had a tail. 

Ace started to panic, not knowing where Harley was put him on edge, and the few moments before he saw him walking down the road on the other side of the dock felt like an eternity.

A quick jog through the crowd was all it took to reunite the pair, “Is it done?” Ace asked, air caught in his throat, a quick nod and a sigh of relief “Good, we are all set on my end too.”

And as if on cue, trumpets sounded and the ship pulled into port, the barrier parting to allow entry, a wave of magic getting in, which started making a lot of the villains a touch lightheaded after not feeling its power in a while, some not ever. Somewhere on the boat a loud voice demanded that  _ everybody stand back _ and stairs were lowered onto the dock, King Ben stood just at the top of them, holding the bag filled with names for the selection, smiling down at all of the villains and their kids. It didn't take long for him to start descending the steps onto the Isle, followed by Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos, in that order, and the second Ben’s feet touched the ground a group of masked children ran out from an ally and around him. Theirsticky fingers taking anything they could on one pass: getting his watch, his wallet and even his suit jacket, but most importantly, they got the bag of names. They disappeared into the sewer entrance at the docks quicker than anyone could react.

Mal cursed to herself, going to make sure Ben was ok, with the other VK’s not far behind, “We should have expected this, a King on the Isle is a prime target for pickpockets.” Jay commented to himself.

“Well what now? They got the bag, we can't fairly pick now.” Ben sighed, more interested in complaining to himself than doing anything productive.

“We could just pick four ourselves.” Carlos suggested, not knowing what else could be done.

“Well now, that wouldn't be fair.” Ben shot the idea down.

This was Harleys chance! He slowly walked toward Ben with a nervous smile painted on, he removed his hat and held it out to the King, whose face lit up, gently taking the hat from him with a dumb smile spanning his face, Harley nodded before he ran back to his brother.

Ben spun the hat in his hands a few times before asking the crew to fetch some paper so they could rewrite the names and proceed. After scribbling down all the names, double checking and triple checking against the list of applications, the mass of paper was dumped into the hat. Harley felt his stomach drop, he didn't anticipate that many applications had been filled out.

“If I call your name, you are to gather your things and be on this boat within the hour, there will be no redraws and there will be no exceptions” Ben really didn't like that, but Mal had made him add the part about no exceptions, saying  _ ‘if you give them an inch,they’ll take a mile’. _

Ben pulled the first name out of the hat, “Trick, son of Oogie Boogie.” The green haired boy got up and walked away, presumably to get his things.

Ben retrieved the next name, “Syn, daughter of Yzma.” The girl with the long black hair threw it over her shoulder, picked up her dog in a bag, and walked up to the boat.

Ace was starting to get nervous, he had faith in Harley but with only two slots left they had to get this right.

Ben got the third name from the hat “Minxx, um, child of the Cheshire Cat.”

Harley’s plan had not worked, maybe the release was busted or was it just no mixed hard enough to trigger, whatever it was Harley felt terrible, so bad that he almost missed the odd tugging sensation in his stomach.

Ben pulled the fourth and final name from the hat, “what?” he chose again, and again looking more and more puzzled with every piece of paper, Mal coming over to see what was going on, “They are all the same” Ben frantically whispered

“What do you mean they’re all the same?” Mal snatched the hat, looking at dozens of slips which all read  _ ‘ _ _ Harley Hearts & Ace Hatter _ _ ’. _ Eventually, getting frustrated, she tipped the hat upside down, dumping out all the paper, Mal returned the hat to its upended position to find it was still full of names.

There was a hushed conversation of ‘what should we do’ and ‘how is this possible’ but Ben decided that there could only be one fair answer, “Harley Hearts and Ace Hatter, sons of The Mad Hatter and The Queen of Hearts.” Many people were shocked by this, including Mal and the twins and many more in outrage, but Ben quickly stamped out any qualms by loudly declaring “If your name has been called, I expect you on this ship in forty five minutes.”

Ben and the VK’s withdrew into the cabins below deck, Mal looking furious.

Ace and Harley could not believe it, they had done it, they were free. It took everything they had to not break down in that moment, gripping each other for support as they slowly moved towards the boat, all their things in tow.

~ ~ ~

Mal was already annoyed at Ben for allowing an extra kid onto the boat, so when he made them wait an extra ten minutes for one of them to arrive she was all but furious.

“You told them there would be no exceptions” Mal pleaded, wanting to get home as soon as possible.

“But what if something happened out of their control? We can't just leave them behind.” Ben looked sad just at the idea, but Mal was too far gone to care.

“Why not? we already have the four we said we would take, your parents aren't going to be happy about this, and what about the buddy program, who is taking the fifth? I don't want the extra work.”

Ben had been too preoccupied with doing what was fair that he hadn't stopped to think about how it would all work, “My parents will be fine, if they accept you, then they can accept one extra villain. As for buddies, I will take one, how hard could it be.” 

Mal seemed to find the idea hilarious, laughing sarcastically, but before she could protest, Syn walked onto the ship, handbag on her shoulder and pulling a large black suitcase behind her, “So, when do we leave?”

Ben asked the crew to store her bags and guided her to where the others were waiting, he had prepared a big speech but in this moment he had forgotten everything he had rehearsed, “Uh, hi, I’m King Ben, but you knew that already…” Ben started to mumble to himself, seemingly getting lost in his own ramblings.

Mal stepped forward, “What Ben was trying to was, as of today, you are all students of Auradon High, you will attend class and try to acclimate to a new, better life. Now I'm sure you all have questions?”

Trick’s hand shot into the air, Mal looked down the line looking for anyone else. Eventually giving in, she pointed at him, “Yeah, uh... why are there five of us?” 

Mal was surprised that he could count that high, “Good question!” Mal shot Ben a dirty look, “Any other questions?”

“Why aren't we taking the car like you did?” Syn said, clearly not happy that she had to ride a boat.

“Ah, well, after much debate, it was decided that opening a hole in the barrier unnecessarily is, problematic, and as such, we used the same breach as the supply ship. Anything else?”

At this point, Harley and Ace were already talking between themselves and Minxx had disappeared off somewhere as well. The only person still listening was Trick, who had his hand up again, “No? Is that it? Good” Mal just walked away, already done with this, leaving poor Trick with his hand still raised. 

The boat departed as quickly as it arrived, the barrier parting like a curtain as the ship passed through it. For a short moment, Ace felt the wind on his skin and could smell the sea on the air, but all too fast he was hit by waves of magic, forcing his body to convulse, his eyes flashing dozens of different colors before he finally passed out. 

At first, Harley was the only one to notice, being hit by a cocktail of emotions that almost knocked him to his knees, falling to the ground to see if his brother was ok, but it wasn’t long before Ben told Evie and Jay to go get medics, before running over himself.

~ ~ ~

Harley was worried, Ace never got sick, and now he was in the care of complete strangers in the cabins, while him and the others were condemned to the top deck, and to make matters worse, Harley couldn't talk to anyone now that Ace had blacked out, not that he would have talked to any of them anyway, Syn was too obsessed with her dog to talk to anyone else, Trick was preoccupied with throwing up over alternating sides of the boat and Minxx? Minxx was still nowhere to be seen.

After what felt like forever, Ben came up from below deck with the VK’s, “There is no need to panic he will be just fine.” But this did nothing to help Harley, he would only calm down when they were back together.

It was going to be a long trip for Harley, he hated being away from ace. This wasn't because he had no one to talk to, Harley was fine with that, but more so that Ace brought him back to reality, whenever he started spireling or worrying Ace was always there. Harley sat by the doors to the lower deck wanting to be there when his brother reemerged, but it wasn't long before he started to tap his feet and mess with his hands, getting jittery with nothing to do. Harley pulled a crudely carved wooden hook from there long coat pocket along with a string of old thin wool and started to crochet chain after chain, before undoing it and starting again, over and over absentmindedly, just for something to do with his hands. While watching everybody else on the boat

Syn could be seen at the back of the boat, leaning over the side one hand anchored her to the rigging the other on the railing so she wouldn't go over as she was vomiting into the sea. Trick stood next to her awkwardly holding her long black hair above back, while gently rubbing her back. Minxx was harder to spot up in the rigging, treating the ship as there playground swinging from ropes and running around the crows nest. `How could anyone think that they are evil’ Harley sat thinking to himself.

~ ~ ~

It wasn't long before Ace was awake, or it didn't feel like long to him anyway, his head hurt and his ears were ringing, so he  _ really  _ didn't want to open his eyes, but the new sensation of lying on something soft disturbed him,  _ wasn't I just stood on a boat? _ the sudden realisation making his eyes fly open, only to see he was below deck somewhere, and in a bed. His first thought was  _ ‘what happened’ _ followed by  _ ‘so this is how a real bed feels’ _ and then  _ ‘ohh, just five more minutes’ _ but, before he could close his eyes again, the door to the room was thrown open, and King Ben walked inside.

“Forgive me if I don't bow.” Harley shot at him

“You seem to be doing better” Ben chuckled to himself, “Do you think you can stand?”

Ace tried to get out of the bed, but as soon as any weight was on his feet he fell back down.

“Here, let me help” Ben outstretched a hand, however Ace pushed it aside.

“I’m fine” He said, just about managing to balance himself, “See?” he cockily smiled at Ben before falling over and onto him.

Thankfully, Ben was fast and was also quite strong, he managed to catch Ace by his underarms, “No, you’re not.” He wrapped an arm around his back and helped him out of the room, Ace  _ hated  _ feeling needy.

After an Eternity of waiting, Ben resurfaced, helping Ace to walk up the stairs, and in no time at all, Harley was joined to his brother’s hip again , “Yes, I’m fine. No, I don't remember what happened. Did you know they have a bed down there?” Ben seemed confused sd Harley had not asked any questions so how could-

** _“Land ho!”_ **

Came a cry from the front of the ship. Suddenly everyone was running, save Ace, who was waddling to catch their first glimpses ofAuradon.

~ ~ ~

Pulling into the dock was fairly smooth and everyone departed quickly, Ace feeling well enough to walk on his own. Waiting on land was what could only be described as a ‘welcoming committee’ and none of the VK’s was ok with it.

“Welcome to Auradon, Bippity Boppity nice to meet you all, I'm the Fairy Godmother and I will be your Principal.” She seemed too happy, it was annoying. “First things first, You will all be given your time tables” Paper was handed to each of them, Harley and Ace took one look at there's, then the others and laughed

“Yea this wont work” Ace could barely get the words out from all the laughter.

“I-Im sorry?” The Fairy Godmother asked confused

“You have put us in different classes, the only one we have together is ‘Remedial goodness’”

“Ah, yes, well, all new villain children are put into different classes as to try and keep... order, and we weren't expecting so many of you we had to make some last minute arrangements.”

“Ok, whatever, you'll see.”

“Ok then, Bippity Boppity where was I, oh yes you have all been assigned a buddy, this is to help you transition and support you in any way you need, Harley with Carlos, Minxx with Evie, Trick with Jay, Syn with Mal and because we didn't have time to find a volunteer for a buddy, Ace with Ben. Any questions?”

Nobody was really paying attention at this point, the buddies had all moved to their assigned partners and Syn was already trying to walking off

“Ok then, please follow for buddy to your dorms, there should be a uniform and a set of PE clothes for you all on the beds”

Ace and Harley walked together behind Carlos, Jay and Ben who was trying to give a tour, Carlos didn't know what to say and Jay didn't know where anything was so it was quite uneventful.

“And this is the boys dorms, your room is on the right, we had to fit three beds into a two person room so sorry if its a bit cramped” Ben apologised while opening the door. 

Harley and Trick moved inside in awe, they had never had a real bed before never mind a room just for them. Ace and Harley dropped there bags at the far corner of the room before pushing the furthest two beds together, Harley giving a ‘this will do’ nod to Ace.

“Ok… Well if you need anything i'm just nextdoor, though i do have a room in the castle so i might not always be here.” Ben looked sheepish at that.

“If not we are just across the hall.” Jay added.

“You should probably get some rest you won't have full time classes until next week but you will still need to go to remedial goodness until then” With that Ben shut the door to let them settle in.

Over at the girls dorm Syn and Minxx was getting the grand tour,

“And this is the girls dorm” Evie Happily announced, after all she was the one who picked the wall paper, carpet, curtains, everything really.

She expected happy squeals but only got a sad “oh” from Minxx.

“What's wrong?”

“It's just I don't belong here” Minxx quietly said

“Oh i'm so sorry i'll have Jay or Carlos come fetch you to the boys dorm”

“I dont belong there either!” In this moment Minxx just didn't want to exist, not if the ‘good’ people would hate them for the same reason there family did, so before they could cry they ran, and poof, they disappeared, everyone was quite shocked to see that the space that had formerly had Minxx in it was now empty leaving only the echoing sounds of crying in its place.

~ ~ ~


End file.
